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Statesman Watch update: Homebuilder obtaining occupancy certificates for East Austin homes
Girija Shanmugam now has a piece of paper called a certificate of occupancy that the city requires for her and her husband to legally live in their Woodland Hills home. Their builder, Centex Homes, had earlier failed to complete the city's permitting process that requires a home pass final inspection.  Centex also learned that 39 of the other 170 homes in Woodland Hills also lacked certificates of occupancy. Centex has built 580 homes in the area east of U.S. 183 near FM 969.  Leon Barba, a City of Austin building official, said the company has completed the necessary paperwork for 25 of the homes and is working on the other 14.  Related article: Couple's home, built on former pond

Arizona Attorney General settles with Pulte on consumer protection violations
Attorney General Terry Goddard has announced a $1,181,400 settlement with Pulte Home Corporation and Pulte Mortgage LLC, resolving the State’s investigation into allegations that Pulte’s pre-qualification practices, earnest money deposit policies and Spanish-language marketing efforts violated Arizona’s consumer protection law. The settlement, in which no admission of fault or finding of liability is made, will be submitted to the Maricopa County Superior Court for final approval...homebuilders and lenders have a legal obligation to provide their customers with complete and accurate information. I commend Pulte’s commitment to amend its practices and bring more transparency into buying and financing a Pulte home.”

KB Home Sucks Live Radio - KB Home Toxic Black Mold Cover-up? KB Home Sucks Live Radio Date / Time: 8/26/2010 9:00 PM PDT Category: Current Events Call-in Number: (347) 637-3050 Mold, is it growing in your KB Home right now? 

Lowe's Drywall Settlement Called Unfair
It's a common argument against class action lawsuits: aggrieved consumers get little more than token compensation, while the lawyers walk off with all the money. That concern is being raised anew with a recently-proposed settlement involving drywall sold at Lowe's. The suit, filed in Georgia state court, concerns some of the defective Chinese drywall sold by the home improvement chain.The settlement totals $6.5 million, $2.1 million of which would go to the plaintiffs' attorneys. Meanwhile, class members are set to receive gift cards in varying amounts -- $50, $250, or $2,000 -- depending on how much money they can prove that they lost, according to ProPublica. Those who can prove damages greater than $2,000 are also eligible to receive as much as $2,500 in cash.

Government zeroes in on home developer fees
The Federal Housing Finance Agency said Thursday it's zeroing in on the practice after meeting with a coalition of real estate agents, title companies and consumer advocates that opposes it. Developers are able to collect the fees because they include “private transfer fee covenants” in their sales contracts. Under the covenant, the buyer agrees to pay the developer or an outside investor up to 3 percent of the future sales price when they end up selling the home. And for 99 years, any subsequent buyer is subject to pay the fee when they sell. Private transfer fee covenants are illegal in 18 states, but not in Texas. Related article: Home sellers beware: Fee might be hidden

Arbitration Strikes Again: Used Cars
Perz signed the dealer's arbitration agreement, meaning that despite hiring a lawyer his case would never reach a judge. Despite being advertised as faster than litigation, after three years his case is still in arbitration. Now he's up against an arbitrator whose record against consumers is abysmal.  Related articles: Support The Arbitrattion Fairness Act HR 1020

A KB Home Sucks launches Talk Show, takes consumer activism to new level
Discuss your new homebuilder practices with the first show ever of it's kind. A KB Home sucks will interview KB Homeowners, KB Home employees, KB Home subcontractors and professionals in the homebuilding industry. Hard hitting facts will come out and news that is suppressed by the big media companies. Tune in to "A KB Home Sucks" Radio.

Brian Causey part of loan scheme to sell Columbus County mobile homes
Brian Causey, who worked for Wachovia bank in Wilmington, along with Mayo, Fluharty and Ford falsified information such as employment history, income, assets and credit letters to underwrite loans between 1998 to sometime in the 2000s, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office and federal court documents...  All told, 60 loans were issued with lenders losing more than $3.5 million, according to the complaint. Additionally, all but one of the loans was foreclosed on.  Later on, in early 2000, Rooks, Williams and others started buying up the foreclosed properties and flipping – or reselling them quickly – for inflated prices.

Did 1/3 of KB Home Board of Directors Quit or Have Been Secretly FIRED?
This is the third and fourth “Board-Level” resignation at KB Home in the last few weeks? Were they fired or are they just quitters? Can’t do the job, or did the job suck so bad? It’s hard to keep a straight face when your company has a policy of lies and to never do the right thing.